Loveland's power of Santa

Bonnie Fahrenbruch wraps batting around a wire frame as she creates one of her St. Nick dolls Friday at her Loveland home. She has been creating Santa dolls for over 30 years and has given more than two dozen of the dolls away over the years.
(
Jenny Sparks
)

Starting with a dowel and a hanger bent into arms, Loveland resident Bonnie Fahrenbruch turns batting and material into a St. Nick doll, using her secret ingredient and a not-so-secret ingredient.

The secret ingredient is duct tape, that extra sticky substance used to fix all kinds of things. She uses duct tape to fasten the arms to the dowel and to secure the batting she wraps around the dowel.

Putting herself into her work is Fahrenbruch's not-so-secret ingredient.

Fahrenbruch, who has a lung condition, will not work on the dolls when she isn't feeling well, she said.

"I want that positive thing," she said, explaining that how she feels is expressed in her work. "That's what makes them beautiful, it's a gift from God."

"It blesses you," Sanderson said.

Fahrenbruch, who has been making and giving away the dolls for about 30 years, decided to start selling them during the upcoming holiday season.

"I found out what it costs to make them," Fahrenbruch, 73, a retired nurse with 35 years experience said. "I can't keep buying the materials."

Fahrenbruch estimates each doll costs $85 to $100 for the materials and requires two to three weeks of labor.

"I know this is a labor of love, because she's given so many away," Sanderson said. "They're very intricate and time consuming."

Fahrenbruch, who has been sewing since she was eight or nine, started making the dolls after she saw one in a catalogue for $500. She figured she could make her own, using porcelain Santa heads she purchases and making the rest by hand -- the gown, the cape or coat and the hats, as well as sacks for miniature toys and presents.

"I started making them as therapy for myself," Fahrenbruch said. She lost her husband, Richard, at a young age, leaving her as a single mom with two children. He died on Christmas morning. "It's my way of staying focused on what's real."

For each doll, Fahrenbruch starts with a dowel that serves as the spine, a hanger she bends into arms and a wood base covered in fabric, usually a piece cut from a white or cream-colored blanket for the softness and look of snow. She puts batting on the dowel to form the bulk of Santa's body -- the sizes range from 14 to 18 to 24 inches tall.

Fahrenbruch sews the outfit and uses real fur for some of the capes and hats, which she purchases from used clothing stores that she cuts into smaller pieces. If she doesn't make a fur hat, she'll make a Santa cap, unless the doll head already has one.

Each doll, which she calls St. Nick or Santa dolls, gets a sack of toys to hold in one hand and something representing the meaning of Christmas in the other, such as a cross, a bell or holly.

"They have to look authentic and always happy," Fahrenbruch said.

In the past when Fahrenbruch gave away the dolls -- more than two dozen to family, friends and co-workers -- she asked people to donate to the Heifer Project, a live animal education program for third-world countries.

"I reached a point where I can't give these away," Fahrenbruch said.

Anyone interested in purchasing a doll can call Fahrenbruch at 593-1818.

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